Damian Lewis is Steve McQueen in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood *UPDATED*

Damianista’s note: This article was written and updated several times as new information came in before the U.S. release of Once Upon A Time In Hollywood. Now that the movie has finally hit the U.S. theaters, it is worth sharing all we know about the story behind the movie as well as about Steve McQueen’s part in it. ENJOY!

Well, some dreams come true and we have been living the dream since we got word in April 2018 that Damian Lewis would play the iconic Hollywood actor Steve McQueen in Quentin Tarantino’s latest movie Once Upon a Time in Hollywood!

Let us start with Damian’s feelings about his role in Once Upon A Time In Hollywood 😀 😀 😀

And Damian Lewis as….Steve McQueen. What an idiot. Why’d I think I could play THAT guy…..??? https://t.co/rNsNv0vCuu

As our long-time readers know, we have been rooting for Damian to play Steve McQueen for more than three years now. JaniaJania wrote this article about why Damian Lewis should play Steve McQueen when we found out back in 2015 that a Steve McQueen biopic was in works. And I vividly remember standing at Wyndham’s Theater stage door and giving Damian the hard copy of JaniaJania’s article along with some other Fan Fun posts and telling him it is our dream for him to play McQueen 😀

source: Damianista

JaniaJania also tweeted a question to be asked to Damian at NY Times Talks in 2016 about whether he would consider playing McQueen.

“I considered it a lot. But I’m not sure if anybody else has…

…and he’s had a reputation which I think has been revised somewhat… Steve McQueen seems to get cooler with age… because I think he had his demons… But yes Steve McQueen… American icon… And yeah If for no other reason than to just drive nice cars quite quickly and to ride motorbikes.”

You can watch Damian’s answer below and catch a glimpse of yours truly in the audience, too 😀

Well, Damian is in good company because it seems Quentin Tarantino considered it, too! 😀 And while we seriously hope he does have a chance to drive nice cars quite quickly and ride motorbikes in the movie, Damian does not give away much when asked about his part in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood at the Britannia Awards Red Carpet interviews.

While you can see Damian on Ross King LIVE on the Britannia Awards Red Carpet at 00:52 below talking about playing Steve McQueen, I am transcribing the relevant parts for our non-English speaking readers who prefer written English to spoken English.

“Yes, I’ve done it, I’ve done it, I’ve done it. Done it with Quentin. We had too much fun, it was really really great fun… A lot of fun stuff with Leo…”

King jumps in here to ask whether there has been any competition between Leonardo de Caprio and Brad Pitt on set:

“Yeah, Leo, Brad, Damo… No. It was… Just working with Quentin was fantastic. He’s old school, he’s old school, he’s furious that movies don’t get made in LA anymore, ‘I’m going to make my movie in LA’ and he dresses up, and there is enormous generosity, and cocktails come out after every hundred reels completed, when they have every hundred reels of film shot, cocktails come out… There is a real sense of occasion and he clearly loves being on set. But it’s infectious. Everybody loves being there. It’s really really… But don’t bring your mobile phone.”

Damian is asked about how it feels to play Steve McQueen in the Red Carpet interview with Variety. You can watch his response below and the transcription of the relevant parts follows.

“It’s scary… because it’s a little bit like saying ‘Yeah, sure, I’ll play Elvis.’ You know, people have views, people have views about that. But I…hopefully we’ve had a good stab at it.”

How did he prepare for the role?

“Same way I prepare for everything. Endless material, video material, film material, literature, dialect coaching, physicalizing him, getting into his body and then….

What about wearing a pair of Ray-Bans in the film?

“And a pair of Ray…there was a pair…maybe, maybe. I’m not going to give anything away at this point.”

And, believe me, it is not only Damian that does not give anything away about the movie. While we have been able to see and report on damian-lewis.com about the wonderful set on which Quentin Tarantino has created the Los Angeles of the late 1960s as well as the trailers they have released, information about the movie has pretty much been kept on lock. Moreover, Quentin Tarantino wrote the viewers at Cannes Film Festival, where the movie had its world premiere, an open letter kindly asking them not to spoil the movie for the mortals like us! 😀

“I love cinema. You love cinema. It’s the journey of discovering a story for the first time. I’m thrilled to be here in Cannes to share ‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’ with the festival audience. The cast and crew have worked so hard to create something original, and I only ask that everyone avoids revealing anything that would prevent later audiences from experiencing the film in the same way. Thank you.”

So here is what we know about Once Upon A Time in Hollywood, and our educated guesses about what Damian’s role in the movie could be.

Written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood uses Manson Family murders in the summer of 1969 in Los Angeles as a backdrop to tell a largely fictional story. The title, Tarantino being a student of Spaghetti Westerns, looks like a tribute to Sergio Leone who is credited as the inventor of the genre and his films Once Upon a Time in America and Once Upon a Time in the West. And the cast is a Who’s Who in Hollywood with Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie in the lead roles.

Tarantino describesOnce Upon a Time in Hollywood to The Hollywood Reporter:

“…a story that takes place in Los Angeles in 1969, at the height of hippy Hollywood. The two lead characters are Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio), former star of a Western TV series, and his longtime stunt double Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt). Both are struggling to make it in a Hollywood they don’t recognize anymore. But Rick has a very famous next-door neighbor … Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie).”

“I’ve been working on this script for five years, as well as living in Los Angeles County most of my life, including in 1969, when I was seven years old. I’m very excited to tell this story of an LA and a Hollywood that don’t exist anymore. And I couldn’t be happier about the dynamic teaming of DiCaprio and Pitt as Rick and Cliff.”

Robert Richardson, the cinematographer who shot every Tarantino movie since Kill Bill describes the movie to Collider as follows:

“I think the tone of it is – it’s difficult to describe because it’s very fresh, but it oscillates between humorous, serious, spooky; it’s playful. It’s not easily describable, but it’s very Quentin. Very, very, very Quentin.”

Margot Robbie as Sharon Tate in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

Damian is one of the many supporting actors in the movie and so do not know how much screen time he will ultimately have; however, from what he shares on the Britannias Red Carpet, we gather he may have a scene or two with Leonardo DiCaprio.And from what we know about the relationship Steve McQueen had with Sharon Tate, and Jay Sebring, a hair stylist for celebrities who was also murdered with Tate in her home that night, we can have an educated guess about Damian’s role in the movie.

Steve McQueen and Jay Sebring were good friends. Both men had dated Tate; in fact, Tate was engaged to Sebring at some point, before she married director Roman Polanski, and they remained close friends with the actress. Steve McQueen was getting ready on August 9, 1969, a night that would turn out to be one of the most notorious in modern U.S. history, to head for dinner with Sebring at the home of Sharon Tate. And it was his infidelities that led him to blow off the party.

Steve McQueen in London, 1969

McQueen’s first wife Neile Adams shares in an interview with National Post that McQueen “ran into a chickie and decided to go off with her instead.” The 8-months pregnant Sharon Tate and Jay Sebring, along with two of their friends, coffee heiress Abigail Folger and her boyfriend Voytek Frykowski, were brutally killed by the followers of Charles Manson that night “Going off with that girl saved his life” says Adams about McQueen.

“After that, he became more paranoid and wouldn’t let me go anywhere without a gun.”

Fear obviously spread through Hollywood when the murders were discovered. Many celebrities had been to Tate/Polanski home for parties before and they could have been there that night, or they could still be on the murderer’s list. Three months after Manson Family were picked up for the murders, it turned out that there was a hit-list also known as the ‘Death List’ with Steve McQueen’s name on it alongside other big celebrities like Frank Sinatra and Elizabeth Taylor.

McQueen wrote the following letter to his lawyer, Edward Rubin, asking for his gun permit to be re-instated. And once he had his permit, he carried a loaded Magnum with him everywhere, including Jay Sebring’s funeral.

While we do not know much whether Steve McQueen’s part in the movie would be limited to the events on August 9, 1969; however, The 13th Floorreports that Steve McQueen was apparently a target of the Manson family long before the dinner party at Tate/Polanski house.

“From that moment on, McQueen carried a loaded Magnum with him everywhere he went—including Sebring’s funeral.

Apparently, McQueen was a target of Manson’s long before the party. Allegedly, the Hollywood-obsessed Manson approached McQueen outside his production company, Solar Productions, several months before the murders even happened.

Manson presented McQueen with a movie script he wanted made, and when McQueen denied it, a fight occurred. McQueen allegedly broke Manson’s nose, and his pride. The altercation would place McQueen on Manson’s death list, and the rest is history.”

Well before he was cast as Steve McQueen in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, in an interview back in 2002, Damian was asked about playing interior guys like Winters and Soames.

“I guess I’m just good at playing repressed individuals. I’m lucky because those are often the roles that catch people’s eyes. It’s the Steve McQueen element, all that bubbling energy bottled up inside. It’s a very compelling quality on the screen. I’ve been lucky that I seem to be able to pull it off. Of course, the two roles are polar opposites. Winters was a lion-hearted hero, a leader of men. Soames is anything but. Soames is a pathetic man in many ways.”

As a recent Popsugar article calls the part as “a gossipy Steve McQueen” we cannot wait to see Damian’s version of “King of the Cool” on big screen. And while we have not seen any photos from the set, the picture of McQueen above as well as the one below with Sharon Tate and her husband Roman Polanski, both from 1969, give some hint about what kind of a look we may expect from Damian in the movie.

UPDATE 07/11/2019: It is here, ladies and gentlemen! The first image of Damian Lewis as Steve McQueen!!!!! And we also have some insights from Tarantino regarding how Leonardo DiCaprio’s character Rick Dalton and Steve McQueen are linked in the movie.

“Leonardo DiCaprio plays an actor named Rick Dalton who had a very successful NBC series called Bounty Law. It started in the ’58-’59 season and ended in the ’63-’64 season. It came out the same season as Steve McQueen came out with Wanted Dead or Alive, and they’re pretty much identical shows. McQueen on Wanted Dead or Alive played a slim, cocksure bounty hunter named Josh, and on Bounty Law Rick Dalton played a slim, cocksure bounty hunter named Jake. And they were both equally popular on television for the time and the fan magazines played up the rivalry: ‘Josh or Jake, who’s the biggest hunk? We let our readers decide!’ He became quite popular and like McQueen during his hiatus, he started doing movies. And they did okay, but during McQueen’s hiatus, eventually, he did The Magnificent Seven, and that was that. So when McQueen goes back to his series to finish his last season, he’s a fucking movie star. Rick is still Jake…he doesn’t pull off the TV-to-movies transition.”

And the movie’s cinematographer Richardson, in an interview with American Cinematographer, gives hints about how he used lighting for the movie’s Steve McQueen:

“My approach is to place the light in the best position for the person I am photographing, that position which is most attractive in my opinion. That is usually a soft bounce from a distance away, or a backlight mixed with a soft bounce, as in the case of Steve McQueen [Damian Lewis] at the Playboy Mansion party.”

During a Q&A on Twitter, I had the chance to ask Brian Koppelman about if they knew Damian would play Steve McQueen when they put “Bullitt” as Bobby’s nickname on Krakow’s phone in Billions.

And, that is, folks, even better than knowing!

As Once Upon a Time in Hollywood has now premiered in the US, our own Gingersnap saw the movie, well, twice and written a brilliant review of Damian’s portrayal of Steve McQueen. You can read it here.

And let us keep our fingers crossed that some Steve McQueen biopic producers out there give Damian a call as soon as they see him in this movie! Pretty please!

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Author: Damianista

Academic, Traveler, Blogger, Runner, Theatre Lover, Wine Snob, Part-time New Yorker, and Walking Damian Lewis Encyclopedia :D Procrastinated about a fan's diary on Damian Lewis for a while and the rest is history!
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Thank you so much for your kind words, Oana! The love and support we get from wonderful fans like keep us going and going. Damian’s nickname in our household: “Lucky Bastard.” My husband calls him that. He agrees Damian is very lucky to have us 🙂

How much screen time does Damian actually have? I’m not a fan of the two male leads, so would go only to see our favorite Ginger. However the reviews I’ve read indicate his appearance is rather brief. Thanks in advance for some info.

Connie, our own Gingersnap has already seen the movie. It turns out Damian has only one scene – a few minutes screentime. I’m in Turkey visiting family at the moment so will see Damian as SMQ when I’m back in the US late August. Hope you’re having a good summer ❤️

Hi Connie! I saw the movie Friday, July 26. His scene is very brief, about 3 minutes. I wrote a review that was just published seconds ago for you readers to enjoy! To me, it was worth seeing any part of Damian on the big screen. I’m happy to report Once Upon a Time in…Hollywood is not the typical Tarantino gore. It’s much less docile, a love story to Sharon Tate IMO. Several laughs, some profound sadness, lots of 60’s nostalgia, the life of the movie industry. Hope you see it!!

Thank you for the great review Gingersnap. Have not yet decided whether to go see it or wait till it is available on TV, which probably won’t be long. The only thing stopping me is Damian’s short camera time, but the shots you took of him were outstanding!! No question the right fellow was selected to play McQueen. I was in high school when “Wanted Dead or Alive” started on TV and I watched it faithfully. My nostalgia for the 1960’s doesn’t relate to anything in the movie though, as I was busy having and raising 3 daughters and was rather oblivious to the Hollywood scene. Damian’s transformation into McQ sure looks spot on. I say, remake The Great Escape and put him in it!

So Steve McQueen first got famous on TV, right? I haven’t seen the movie but I understand one main component is that both De Caprio’s character and SMQ are first famous on TV and then SMQ becomes a movie star… and his competitor does not do so well… I think you may like this movie not only for Damian but for what it is, Connie! I am grateful for Gingersnap’s review and pictures – I am away until late August and will be able to see it then! And oh my god I was ten when I saw SMQ first time in a movie on a Sunday afternoon. It was The Great Escape and, unlike with Damian, it was love at first sight with the guy on the motorcycle!!! ❤️

Fantastic! Green with envy (in the most positive way) for you all that have seen the movie. I am in my native Turkey visiting family so will see the movie only when I am back late August! So glad you enjoyed it!!! I was 10 when I fell for McQueen – that motorcycle scene in The Great Escape!

I am here until late August, and the movie is opening in Turkey on August 23. So I will be able to see Damian playing the “King of the Cool” only when I am back!
ENJOY THE MOVIE and enjoy Steve McQueen!!!!!!

Brian – Rebecca Rittenhouse played Michelle Phillips in OUATIH who was standing next to McQueen during the initial arrival of Tate and Polanski at the Playboy Mansion. But the partygoer McQueen told his gossipy story too, I do not know. I’ll see if I can research that more. Thanks for reading!